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Interacción y Perspectiva Dep. Legal pp 201002Z43506
Revista de Trabajo Social ISSN 2244-808X
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enero-junio
ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN
Impacto de la cultura corporativa en el compromiso de los empleados que
trabajan en pequeñas y medianas empresas del Delta del Mekong,
Vietnam/DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8347151
Nguyen Giac Tri*
Resumen
En el contexto actual de competencia cada vez más evidente entre las empresas,
construir y promover los efectos positivos de la cultura corporativa para desarrollar los
recursos humanos y retener a los buenos empleados se considera una de las prioridades
que deben llevar a cabo las empresas. Para aclarar el impacto de la cultura corporativa
en el compromiso de los empleados que trabajan en pequeñas y medianas empresas del
delta del Mekong, el estudio realizó una encuesta a 228 empleados de pequeñas y
medianas empresas. El autor llevó a cabo la investigación a través de dos fases:
investigación cualitativa e investigación cuantitativa. Además, el método de análisis de
datos seleccionado por el autor (1) análisis estadístico descriptivo; (2) evaluar la
fiabilidad de la escala con el coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach; (3) análisis de correlación;
(4) probar la diferencia de medias (5) analizar el modelo de regresión múltiple. Los
resultados del análisis muestran que una cultura que fomenta la innovación y el trabajo
en equipo, promueve las normas y la responsabilidad social tiene un impacto positivo en
el compromiso de los empleados. El artículo ha contribuido teóricamente aportando más
pruebas empíricas sobre el papel de la cultura corporativa en la mejora del compromiso
de los empleados de las pequeñas y medianas empresas. Además, se sugieren algunas
implicaciones de gestión importantes para las pequeñas y medianas empresas en la
construcción de la cultura corporativa hacia la mejora del compromiso de los empleados.
Palabras clave: Cultura empresarial; compromiso; empresas; Mekong Delta
Abstract
Impact of corporate culture on the commitment of employees working in
small and medium enterprise in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
In the context of increasingly obvious competition between businesses today, building
and promoting the positive effects of corporate culture in order to develop human
resources as well as retain good employees is considered one of the priorities that
businesses should carry out. To clarify the impact of corporate culture on the
commitment of employees working in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Mekong
Delta, the study conducted a survey of 228 employees of small and medium-sized
enterprises. The author conducted the research through two phases: qualitative research
and quantitative research. Besides, the data analysis method selected by the author (1)
descriptive statistics analysis; (2) evaluate the reliability of the scale with Cronbach's
Nguyen Giac Tri / Impacto de la cultura corporativa en el compromiso de los empleados
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Alpha coefficient; (3) correlation analysis; (4) test the mean difference (5) analyze
multiple regression model. The results of the analysis show that a culture that
encourages innovation and teamwork, promotes standards and social responsibility has
a positive impact on employee engagement. The article has contributed theoretically by
providing more empirical evidence on the role of corporate culture in improving employee
engagement in small and medium enterprises. In addition, some important management
implications are suggested for small and medium-sized enterprises in building corporate
culture towards improving employee commitment.
Keywords: Corporate culture; commitment; enterprises; Mekong Delta.
Recibido: 20/08/23 Aceptado: 03/09/2023
* PhD in Economic, Faculty of Economics, Dong Thap University, Vietnam. Email: ngtri@dthu.edu.vn ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8378-5282
1.- Introduction
The importance of corporate culture to the survival and success of the business is
increasingly being realized. Managers are also more concerned with the influence of
corporate culture on behavior, attitudes and how members of the organization make
their decisions. Corporate culture is gradually recognized as an effective way to attract
and retain talented human resources for the organization. On the other hand, human
resources are increasingly valued by businesses in the context of the industrial revolution
4.0 and the rapid digital transformation process. In fact, the lack or loss of experienced
personnel who are able to apply and master modern technology can cause businesses
to pay a significant fee related to new recruitment, retraining or employee rotation.
Therefore, managers are always looking for more effective solutions to improve
employees' commitment to the organization to ensure the stability of the organization's
personnel as well as improving employee productivity.
In Vietnam, small and medium enterprises account for a large proportion. According
to the General Statistics Office, by the end of 2022, there are nearly 54,000 small and
medium enterprises operating in the Mekong Delta, accounting for about 97% of the
total number of businesses operating in the region. Small and medium enterprises
contribute to the region's GDP on average about 70%/year and solve for 51.0% of labor
in the enterprise sector in general. Increasing the level of employee commitment to the
organization is a big challenge for managers, especially in the wake of the Covid-19
pandemic when small and medium-sized businesses are accelerating the recovery
process, looking for effective ways to attract employees back to work and retain them
in the future. At this time, corporate culture is more and more focused not only to
improve the competitiveness of the business but also to help improve work results and
employee commitment.
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In domestic and foreign studies, corporate culture and employee commitment are
topics that attract the attention of many scholars with diverse approaches. However,
most of the studies focus on the relationship between corporate culture and business
results of enterprises such as revenue, profit, productivity, but have not mentioned much
about the link between values. organizational culture with aspects of psychology,
attitude and behavior of employees. Several studies have shown that corporate culture
has a positive impact on employee commitment to the organization, making them loyal
to the organization and willing to contribute more at work (Herminingsih, 2015).
Changes in corporate culture also have an impact on employee engagement levels with
the organization. Meanwhile, domestic studies on the influence of corporate culture on
employee commitment are relatively limited, the research scope is still limited, limited
to one or a group of small enterprises (Nguyen Nam Hai, 2019).
From the important role of corporate culture in promoting employee engagement in
the current context and the lack of further research on this topic, the article focuses on
answering two questions: (1) How does corporate culture affect employee engagement?
(2) Is this impact different between the group of employees who have direct and indirect
contact with customers? To clarify this issue, the article first summarizes some important
theoretical bases on the influence of corporate culture on employee commitment to the
organization. Next, the author proposes an analytical model based on domestic and
foreign studies on this topic. After presenting the research method, the article analyzes
in detail the obtained research results in order to draw conclusions about the role of
corporate culture with employee commitment. On that basis propose implications for the
managers of small and medium enterprises in the Mekong Delta.
2.- Theoretical basis and research model
2.1. Theoretical basis
2.1.1. Corporate culture
With an important role in improving organizational business results, corporate
culture has attracted the attention of academics and executives for more than half a
century. However, up to now, corporate culture has not been uniformly defined.
Corporate culture is understood as a set of basic values, beliefs and assumptions that
members of an organization have discovered and developed in the process of adapting
to internal and external problems of the organization, determining how members
perceive, think, and respond appropriately when problems arise (Schneider et al., 2017).
In other words, corporate culture consists of the values shared by the members of the
organization and the underlying assumptions that explain the reasons for the activities
the organization is doing and issues of interest to the organization. Corporate culture is
the product created by members who work together for a long time at an organization,
creating a distinctive feature that distinguishes this business from other businesses.
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To evaluate corporate culture, researchers and well-known consulting organizations
in the world have proposed many different tools and scales. In academic research alone,
more than 70 tools have been and are being used, corresponding to which dozens of
different aspects of corporate culture have been analyzed. In small and medium
enterprises, some authors have proposed a separate corporate culture scale to reflect
specific aspects (Tepeci & Barlett, 2002). The diversity in definitions and scales has
posed a big challenge for scholars in choosing the right approaches and tools when
researching on this topic.
2.1.2. Employee commitment to the organization
Employee commitment is a new topic that has been mentioned a lot in research on
corporate governance and organizational psychology since the beginning of the 21st
century. Research by Kahn (1990) suggests that people will put their own cognitive,
emotional, and physical into the work they perform in the workplace to varying degrees.
Stemming from that background, Saks (2006) defined employee engagement as the
degree to which an employee is psychologically present in a particular organizational
role. According to this study, the author made a clear distinction between employee
commitment to work and employee commitment to the organization. This is an important
step forward that allows to explore more deeply the aspects of commitment because
before that, many documents used different terms such as employee commitment,
commitment. commitment to work... but they only show the aspect of commitment to
employees' behavior towards the jobs they are performing.
Unlike the commitment to work, employee commitment to the organization is
understood as the desire to continue to stay in the organization as a member of the
organization, the willingness to comply with the values of the organization and strives
to fulfill its job role for the benefit of the whole organization (Saks, 2006). Employees
who are committed to the organization will pay more attention to the performance of
their role in the organization, devote more energy to their work, and achieve higher work
performance (Maslach et al. events, 2001). They are also optimistic, highly focused on
work, enthusiastic and willing to try harder to contribute to the success of the
organization in the future (Jose and Mampilly, 2012).
Several empirical studies have shown that employee commitment to the organization
has an impact on the turnover rate, turnover, labor productivity, and job satisfaction
and organizational citizenship behavior (Buil et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2017). In
addition, a high level of employee engagement promotes creativity and innovation in the
business and is positively related to customer satisfaction. It can be seen that employees
with long-term commitment to the organization need to be recognized as a strategic
asset of the enterprise and receive more attention from managers (Nutov and Hazzan,
2014).
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2.1.3. The influence of corporate culture on employee commitment
More than a decade ago, empirical studies have just begun to be conducted more to
examine the relationship between corporate culture and employee commitment to the
organization, although there have been some theoretical studies on this topic before.
Research by Matin and Hetrick (2006) shows that corporate culture towards employee
engagement can make it easier for businesses to attract and retain talented employees.
Not only that, businesses that build a culture where employees are closely attached to
the organization will achieve better financial results than other businesses in the same
industry.
Several studies at specific companies have shown a strong correlation between
aspects of corporate culture and employee engagement levels (Barbars, 2018).
Enterprises have a culture that values the value of employees, respects the interests of
employees and efforts to build strong relationships among members of the organization
often recognize a higher level of employee commitment and employees are also willing
to put more effort to contribute to the achievement of the common goals of the
organization.
Besides the traditional factors that are often studied such as organizational
processes, compensation and benefits, the leadership of superiors, corporate culture is
gradually focused as a fundamental factor affecting employee commitment. Enterprises
with a positive culture, promoting innovation, encouraging internal communication and
emphasizing integrity will create strong motivation for employees even if the company
does not offer too many financial rewards to employees (Najeemdeen et al., 2018).
In addition, research by Lockwood (2007) describes a meaningful corporate culture
that needs to be built and strengthened to make employees more committed to the
organization. Accordingly, corporate culture should promote employee contributions,
encourage more challenging tasks for employees, towards creativity and create
opportunities for employees to develop their own capabilities. In particular, the
interaction and mutual support between colleagues in the organization and the close
connection with customers are also important aspects of corporate culture that affect
employee commitment.
In general, current studies mainly analyze the impact of corporate culture and
employee commitment based on organizational psychology theories. The few empirical
studies on this effect have only focused on a specific type of culture without fully
examining the impact of different cultural dimensions on employee commitment.
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more empirical studies on the impact of corporate
culture on employee commitment, especially looking specifically at small and medium-
sized enterprises in the Mekong Delta with urgency.
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3. Research models
Based on an overview of studies on corporate culture and employee engagement in
general and documents on corporate culture in small and medium enterprises in
particular, The OCP organizational culture analysis framework (Tepeci & Barlett, 2002)
allows to approach corporate culture from the perspective of cultural values, thereby
allowing the simultaneous study of diverse cultural aspects in organizations and highlight
the typical values of small and medium enterprises. Accordingly, corporate culture is
considered in five aspects: encouraging innovation, encouraging teamwork, promoting
standards, being results-oriented, and promoting social responsibility. The relationship
between corporate culture and employee commitment to the organization is explained
based on social exchange theory (Saks, 2006). Accordingly, when the corporate culture
shows the organization's interest and focus on employees, they will feel that the
organization is bringing benefits to them, since then they want to return commensurate
values to the organization through greater commitment and dedication to the
organization. Therefore, the article proposes the following hypotheses:
H1a: Culture encourages innovation has a positive effect on employee commitment to
the organization.
H1b: Culture encourages teamwork has a positive effect on employee commitment to
the organization.
H1c: Culture upholds standards has a positive effect on employee commitment to the
organization.
H1d: Results-oriented culture has a positive effect on employee commitment to the
organization.
H1e: Culture upholding social responsibility has a positive effect on employee
commitment to the organization.
H2: The level of impact of corporate culture on employees' commitment to the
organization is different between the two groups (employees in contact with and without
direct contact with customers). The research model is depicted in Figure 1.
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Figure 1.
Author's proposed research model
4. RESEARCH METHODS
4.1. Scale development
The scales used in the study were built based on an overview of studies on corporate
culture and employee commitment. The scale was then adjusted and supplemented to
suit the research context of small and medium enterprises in the Mekong Delta, based
on the results of in-depth interviews with 5 experts from universities majoring in
Economics, who have a deep understanding of corporate culture, commitment of
employees and management activities of small and medium enterprises. The corporate
culture scale is built based on the OCP corporate culture theory of Tepeci & Barlett (2002)
and the normative culture scale of Bradley et al (2006).
H2
H1e
H1d
H1c
H1b
H1a
CORPORATE CULTURE
Culture encourages
innovation
Culture encourages
teamwork
Culture upholds
standards
Results-oriented culture
Culture upholding social
responsibility
Employee commitment
to the organization
Job position: contact/no
direct contact with
customers
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Table 1
Scale of research concepts
Encode
Research concept
Reference source
ST
Culture encourages
innovation
Tepeci & Barlett (2002); Expert
discussion
LN
Culture encourages
teamwork
Tepeci & Barlett (2002); Expert
discussion
QC
Culture upholds standards
Bradley v cng s (2006); Expert
discussion
KQ
Results-oriented culture
Tepeci & Barlett (2002); Expert
discussion
XH
Culture upholding social
responsibility
Tepeci & Barlett (2002); Expert
discussion
GB
Employee commitment to
the organization
Saks (2006); Expert discussion
Source: Compiled by the author's research
4.2. Research stages
4.2.1. Qualitative research
At the preliminary research stage, the author uses qualitative research methods with
target group discussion techniques. Specifically: the author uses convenient sampling
method, selects 10 employees and 10 managers who are leaders of enterprises located
in provinces and regions in the Mekong Delta. All interviews were in the form of face-to-
face interviews with a duration of 30 to 60 minutes, with an average of 45 minutes.
Interview period is from March 2023 to April 2023. Objectives of the target group
interview are the staff to evaluate and edit the content of observations and models,
research hypotheses, how to measure variables and the results of the model.
Objectives of the target group interview are managers to find out, their views on the
impact of corporate culture on employee commitment in their business. Also, investigate
their level of understanding and contribution to the observations in the research scale.
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4.2.2. Quantitative research
At the quantitative research stage, the author uses the non-probability sampling
method, which is convenience sampling, which is applied when implementing sampling,
whereby a list of small and medium-sized enterprises classified according to their
business lines is used to conduct the survey. Survey subjects are employees of small
and medium-sized enterprises in the Mekong Delta by gender, age, qualifications and
job position, with at least 2 years of seniority at the enterprise, including including those
who work directly and not directly with customers in different parts of the enterprise in
order to verify the accuracy and suitability of the model, assess the reliability of the
scale, variables, observations include and discard inappropriate indicators. Data were
collected by distributing questionnaires to a direct survey for the period from May 1,
2023 to June 1, 2023, with an expected sample size of 250 employees.
4.3. Data analysis
- Test the reliability of the scale and descriptive statistics: Using Cronbach's Alpha
coefficient to evaluate the quality of the construction scale. The scale is evaluated as
good quality when: (1) Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the population is greater than
0.6; and (2) The correlation coefficient - the sum of the observed variables is greater
than 0.3 (Corrected Item - Total Corelation) (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).
- Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
- Correlation analysis
- Test for mean difference
- Analysis of regression model to evaluate the impact of corporate culture on employee
commitment in small and medium enterprises in the Mekong Delta.
5. RESEARCH RESULTS
5.1. Research sample information
The research sample was selected by the non-probability sampling method, which
is convenient sampling, stratified relatively according to provinces and localities in order
to increase the representativeness of the research sample including Can Tho City, Dong
Thap province, Vinh Long province, An Giang province, Kien Giang province, Tien Giang
province and classified according to the type of business line of the enterprise, gender,
age, qualification and job position. The investigation unit in the study is defined as an
employee in small and medium-sized enterprises and has at least 2 years of seniority
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working at the enterprise, including those who work directly and not directly with
customers in different parts of the business.
Table 2.
Distribution of the research sample
Research sample structure
Number of
survey
samples
Number of
samples
collected
Ratio %
Local
investigation
Can Tho City
50
45
20.0
Dong Thap province
50
47
20.5
Vinh Long province
40
37
16.1
An Giang province
40
36
15.7
Kien Giang province
40
37
16.1
Tien Giang province
30
26
11.6
Business
Agriculture forestry seafood
85
76
33.6
Industry, Build
85
79
34.4
Commerce, service
80
73
32.0
Gender
Male
98
89
38,7
Female
152
139
61,3
Age
Under 25 years old
73
67
29,4
25-35 years old
66
60
26,5
35-45 years old
61
56
24,5
Over 45 years old
50
45
19,6
Level
High School
15
9
5,8
College
44
40
17,8
University
156
142
62,5
After university
35
37
13,9
Job position
Direct contact with
customers
136
124
54,3
No direct contact with
customers
114
104
45,7
Total
250
228
100
Source: Compiled by the author's research
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From 250 questionnaires sent initially, the author obtained 232 survey questionnaires
with a response rate of 92.8%. After removing invalid votes, 228 survey questionnaires
were included in the analysis. Some characteristics of the study sample are summarized
in Table 2. The research sample is mainly female, accounting for more than 60% and
has a relatively young age with more than 50% of the surveyed people under 35 years
old. Most of the staff are at university or above. The percentage of respondents who are
working in direct and non-customer positions is about the same. To ensure the reliability
and accuracy of the scale, the collected data is tested based on Cronbach's Alpha
coefficient and EFA exploratory factor analysis. The analysis coefficients all confirm that
the scale has an appropriate level of reliability. The data was then entered into SPSS 22
software to test the scale, analyze descriptive statistics, test mean differences, analyze
correlation and regression to test the research hypotheses.
5.2. Evaluate the reliability of the scale
The results of descriptive statistical analysis show that small and medium-sized
enterprises have built a culture emphasizing innovation, teamwork, results orientation
and social responsibility with an average score of 3, 74 to 3.85. The aspect of culture
that emphasizes standards has not been really focused with an average value of less
than 3. The level of employee commitment to the organization is above average with a
value of 3.53. All 6 scales are reliable with Cronbach's Alpha coefficients greater than
0.6, total correlation coefficients are greater than 0.3, ensuring the reliability of the scale
(Hair et al. 2009).
Table 3.
Results of testing the reliability of the scale and descriptive statistics
Variable
Symbol
Value
medium
Standard
deviation
Culture encourages innovation
ST
3,85
0,69
Culture encourages teamwork
LN
3,78
0,79
Culture upholds standards
QC
2,76
0,86
Results-oriented culture
KQ
3,74
0,74
Culture upholding social
responsibility
XH
3,77
0,75
Employee commitment to the
organization
GB
3,53
0,60
Source: Compiled by the author's research
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5.3. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
Exploratory factor analysis using Varimax rotation was conducted with 5
independent variables and 1 dependent variable to test the relationship between
variables in the same scale. For the two analyzes, the KMO coefficients both reach values
greater than 0.5, the Barlett test coefficient has a significance level of 0.00, the total
variance extracted is greater than 50%, proving that the factor analysis is appropriate.
and observed variables are correlated with each other in the factor. The factor loading
coefficients of all observed variables are greater than 0.5, the observed variables of the
dependent variable converge on one variable. These indexes show the unidirectionality
of the scale, ensure the convergence of the observed variables, and the scale is qualified
to conduct correlation and regression analysis.
5.4. Correlation analysis
The results of the correlation analysis between factors show that employees'
commitment to the organization is correlated with aspects of corporate culture at the
significance level of 0.01. In which, culture that promotes social responsibility and
encourages innovation has the strongest correlation with employee engagement with
the correlation coefficient greater than 0.5. Results-oriented culture has the lowest
correlation coefficient with employee engagement at 0.387. The five dimensions of
corporate culture were moderately correlated with each other, with the exception of the
innovation-driven culture and the results-oriented culture that were not significantly
correlated.
Table 4.
Correlation analysis results
GB
ST
LN
QC
KQ
XH
Employee commitment to the
organization
1
0,541
**
0,466
**
0,497
**
0,386
**
0,566
**
Culture encourages innovation
1
0,214
**
0,228
**
0,119
**
0,453
**
Culture encourages teamwork
1
0,318
**
0,602
**
0,338
**
Culture upholds standards
1
0,322
**
0,371
**
Results-oriented culture
1
0,318
**
Culture upholding social
responsibility
1
**
Significant correlation at 0.01 (2-tailed) level
Source: Data analysis results
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5.5. Test for mean difference
Independent sample T-test was conducted to determine the average difference in
the perceived level of corporate culture and the employee's commitment to the
organization between whether groups of employees occupy different positions in the
organization. Levene test results with a significance value less than 0.05 indicate the
difference in the level of employee commitment to the organization between two groups
of employees in contact with and without direct contact with customers. On the other
hand, there is a difference in the perception of the two groups of employees about three
aspects of corporate culture, including a culture that promotes teamwork, respects
standards, and promotes social responsibility.
Table 5.
Results of testing the mean difference between two groups of
employees
Employees
in direct
contact
with
customers
Employees
do not
have
direct
contact
with
customers
Levene’s Test
for equality
of variances
T-test for equality of
means
F
Sig.
t
Df
Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Culture encourages
innovation
3,66
3,86
6,181
0,013
-1,861
185
0,063
-1,886
181,2
0,060
Culture encourages
teamwork
3,63
3,96
8,941
0,002
-2862
185
0,004
-2,915
174,9
0,003
Culture upholds
standards
2,63
2,90
2,791
0,095
-2,158
185
0,031
-2,175
184,6
0,030
Results-oriented culture
3,65
3,84
1,930
0,165
-1,774
185
0,077
-1,790
184,1
0,074
Culture upholding social
responsibility
3,64
3,92
1,479
0,224
-2,641
185
0,008
-2,655
184,9
0,008
Employee commitment
to the organization
3,30
3,79
2,682
0,102
-6,133
185
0,000
-6,179
184,7
0,000
Source: Data analysis results
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5.6. Analysis of regression model
The results of the regression analysis with the entire sample allow to assess the
impact of corporate cultural aspects on employee commitment. For the three regression
models, the results of the analysis of variance are in agreement with the significance
level of 0.00. The VIF variance magnification factors are all less than 2, ensuring no
multicollinearity. First, the adjusted R-squared coefficient of 0.54 shows that all five
aspects of corporate culture explain more than 50% of the variation in employee
engagement. Specifically, the culture that encourages innovation has the greatest
influence, followed by a culture that promotes standards, promotes social responsibility,
and encourages teamwork. Results-oriented culture has no impact on employee
commitment.
Next, two regression models were analyzed for the two groups of respondents to
show the difference in the influence of cultural aspects on employee commitment. For
the group of employees who have direct contact with customers, cultural aspects of the
company explain more than 70% of the variation in commitment levels. Meanwhile, this
rate in the group of employees who do not contact customers is only nearly 30%. In
both groups of employees, the results-oriented culture had no significant impact on
commitment. Particularly for the group of employees who do not have direct contact with
customers, only the culture that encourages innovation and the culture that values
standards has an impact on commitment.
In general, with the results of correlation analysis, difference test and multivariable
regression analysis, hypotheses H1a, H1b, H1c, H1e and H2 are accepted. In other
words, a culture that encourages innovation, encourages teamwork, promotes ethics and
social responsibility has a positive impact on employee commitment to the organization
and this impact is differences among employees in different positions in the organization.
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Table 6.
Results of Regression Analysis
Overall sample
Contact staff group
direct customer
Non-contact staff
group
direct customer
0,541
0,702
0,271
0,000
0,000
0,000
Normalization
coefficient
Level of
significance
Normaliza
tion
coefficient
Level of
significa
nce
Normaliza
tion
coefficient
Level of
significa
nce
0,32
0,00
0,31
0,00
0,33
0,00
0,18
0,00
0,22
0,00
0,05
0,60
0,24
0,00
0,27
0,00
0,18
0,04
0,07
0,22
0,05
0,44
0,13
0,18
0,23
0,00
0,32
0,00
0,09
0,31
Source: Data analysis results
6. DISCUSSION AND GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS
6.1. Discussing research results
From the research results obtained, the article proposes a suitable research model
and provides more empirical evidence on the impact of corporate culture on employee
commitment to the organization. On the one hand, research has clarified the impact of
different aspects of corporate culture on employee engagement levels. Accordingly,
businesses build a culture that encourages innovation, teamwork and social
responsibility through listening to employees' opinions, creating a supportive working
environment and focusing on the interests of each individual will make employees more
committed to the organization. This result is similar to previous studies of Johnson et al
Nguyen Giac Tri / Impacto de la cultura corporativa en el compromiso de los empleados
284
(2018) when emphasizing that a work culture that gives employees the opportunity to
learn, create and support the work team will improve satisfaction, employee
commitment and engagement. In addition, the culture of not being too rigidly defined is
a characteristic aspect of the culture of small and medium enterprises. The results of the
analysis show that the aspect of culture that promotes standards is not clearly
recognized in enterprises, but has a significant impact on commitment. Strengthening
management policies, regulations and procedures at work can make employees feel
tightly controlled by the business but help them do their jobs more smoothly and
efficiently, thereby achieving higher results at work and more connected with the
organization.
On the other hand, research has shown differences in the impact of corporate culture
on commitment among employees in different job positions. In small and medium
enterprises, depending on the characteristics of the work they are doing, employees may
have different views on the corporate culture, thereby having different levels of
commitment. Employees who provide direct service to customers such as customer
service staff, sales staff, are those who perform complex jobs, requires the adjustment
of behavior and attitudes in accordance with the cultural norms of the enterprise, so
their relationship with the organization is somewhat closer. The level of commitment of
employees who do not have direct contact with customers, such as staff in the
administrative and human resources departments, in the financial planning department,
is less affected by aspects of corporate culture. This result reinforces the conclusion of
Copus et al (2019) when comparing jobs that are in frequent contact with customers
that require employees to have a clear understanding and attitude, behavior in
accordance with corporate cultural values, thereby making them gradually integrate
more deeply into the organization and commit to a long-term commitment to the
business.
6.2. Management Implications
Based on the analysis results, the article offers some implications for the managers
of small and medium-sized enterprises in building corporate culture to promote
employee commitment. First of all, businesses need to focus on encouraging teamwork,
empowering employees, accepting risks, employees' failures, listen to their new ideas to
create an environment that makes them more comfortable and willing to give more.
Next, small and medium-sized enterprises need to standardize their working processes
in order to maintain an appropriate level of flexibility and avoid cumbersome procedures
to facilitate employees in the working process. More importantly in the context of the
current economic downturn, small and medium enterprises need to pay more attention
to corporate social responsibility, especially focusing on the benefits of employees even
if they have to cut their working hours or work remotely to make them feel secure to
work for the organization long after the economy stabilizes. In addition, with employees
who have direct contact with customers, playing an important role in small and medium-
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sized businesses as the image representative, conveying the organization's cultural
values to customers, businesses need to increase training so that they understand and
share those values, and make them feel part of the success of the organization and want
to be with the organization in the long term. For employees who do not have direct
contact with customers but are often present at the organization, businesses need to
strengthen group bonding activities and remind them of the common values of the
organization.
7. CONCLUSIONS
Corporate culture is not only an invaluable asset that sets a business apart, but it is
also the key to attracting and retaining talented employees to stay with the organization.
Based on data collected from 228 employees of small and medium enterprises in the
Mekong Delta, research has elucidated the important role of corporate culture in
promoting employee commitment to the organization. Through the construction and
development of specific cultural values, small and medium enterprises can strengthen
the connection between employees and the organization, thereby making them more
willing to put in effort and contribute more to the overall success of the organization.
The study still has some limitations when it only analyzes businesses across a
geographical area and uses a measure of corporate culture based on employee
evaluation. Future studies may expand the sample size and research scope to exploit
differences in corporate culture between different fields. In addition, in order to study
corporate culture and employee commitment more comprehensively, subsequent studies
may incorporate more qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviews or group
discussions.
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